GAME 2

Not to be denied in the event that bears their former coach’s name, seventh-ranked UCLA fought back from an 18-point first half deficit to defeat Davidson 75-63 in the second game of the John R. Wooden Classic presented by Toyo Tires.

UCLA junior Josh Shipp netted 15 points in the win for the Bruins.

“It really was a great atmosphere today. It felt like an NCAA tournament game,” UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. “It’s always an honor to be in this tournament, first and foremost because it’s in Coach’s name. To be involved in anything that his hands are on is truly an honor for me and for our program. I just can’t emphasize that enough or express it any better. It’s incredible.”

Davidson (3-5) stormed out to a 32-14 lead with 6:17 remaining in the first half, but they were unable to sustain the momentum in the game, as UCLA (8-1) outscored the Wildcats 61-31 the rest of the way.

“We had the huge deficit. They came out and just hit three after three against us,” Howland said. “That’s two games in a row now that we’ve fallen behind by 16 and 18. We’d like to avoid that in the future. Overall, I’m pretty pleased the way we came back.”

After trailing Davidson 32-14 with 6:17 left in the first half, UCLA outscored the Wildcats 61-31 the rest of the game.

Critical to the Bruins’ turnaround was the defensive effort by the team and in particular sophomore guard Russell Westbrook, who drew the difficult task of guarding Wildcats sophomore star Stephen Curry, who entered the game averaging 26 points per contest.

Curry found buckets harder to come by against the Bruins, as the 6-foot-3 guard shot 6-for-19 in the game with a team-high 15 points under the relenting pressure of Westbrook.

“Westbrook contested a lot of shots and got my balance and footwork off,” Curry said. “He did a great job of chasing me all game and making it tough for me to get easy looks.”

Junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute led the way for the Bruins with a game-high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting while also adding eight rebounds.

“My teammates did a good job of attacking them,” Mbah a Moute said. “I was focused on finishing under the basket. Also, I just had open shots and I knocked them down.”

In his third game back from a sprained left knee, UCLA's Darren Collison tallied 10 points in 36 minutes against Davidson.

While fighting through some early foul trouble, highly-touted freshman center Kevin Love chipped in with 12 points and 12 rebounds during 22 minutes of play for his fifth double-double of the season.

“I only played 22 minutes, but I felt I was productive,” Love said. “We played a great game and came out with a big win.”

With the win, the Bruins have now won their last three appearances in the Wooden Classic dating back to 2005.
“We knew that this was going to be a very difficult team to play,” Howland said. “I’m just really glad we came out of here with a win.”